Known the Longest
12-23-1997
Went to a house supposed to belong to Dave. Took off my shoes. Went outside in snow, walked to end of driveway. Dave showed me a weapon to counteract these big lenses that floated around until they found you, then tracked you down and killed you. The weapon had to be shot as the lens came towards you. To load it was very complex: A trigger by the muzzle to take that part off. Then pull in the middle to disengage the handle and the middle. Middle held the extra ammo. Could only load 2 of our own lenses at a time. Had to slip it on in a manner that made you practically take the whole gun apart and back together again. His gun wasn't loaded, but there were two lenses floating aimlessly nearby. He calmly loaded, got their attention, and blew them away. He gave me my own gun.
Dave fought with wife about being the busy professor and he he never did anything. My feet got wet, right foot muddy. Couldn't walk back up driveway. Too slippery. Someone helped me. Dave told me to wait at bar #2 and he would send after me. Noone was at bar #2.
A lens floated nearby. I tried to load the gun, but it was taking me too long. The lens came at me and I got it in my scope, but my gun didn't fire. Luckily the lens hit my mizzle dead on and cracked up from its own force. The scope lens broke, but I wasn't going to tell Dave about it. I realized I loaded the gun wrong and started to reload it, but there was another lens. I his underneath a blanket while I loaded it. The lens found me, though. I used a big pillow as a shield...it burst through the pillow, but got off course and missed me. I grabbed it with my hand and crushed it.
Dave still hadn't sent for me, so I called him and left a message. He finally arrived, looking tired, and apologized for not getting back sooner.
Blurry...
In a room with a lot of computers. Sometimes goes wrong and we must evacuate. I tell everyone to use the escape pods as I take their drinks and put them on conveyor belts that lead to their pods. One girl says she can't go in the escape pod cuz it makes her stomach feel funny like on a rollercoaster. I explain I didn't like it at first, either, but if you scream it makes it easier. I sit her down at a game. She has to play/win in order to get an escape pod. It doesn't make sense to me why you have to play a game to get one, but there's nothing else to do.
Others arrive on the scene and take out one of the walls. They start building a deck...can't use escape pods, must build a deck for a rescue vessel to land on. Made of wood, except for one pillar some guy made too short where he's stacking books on it to make it level.
I just stand there with my gun. I get a walkie-talkie and strap that onto my pants. Some people are building other units. I walk to a bookshelf and see lots of books I'd never seen. "Watermark" by Enya and "My God Sun" by some guy. Wilkes is there--his books--and using the least expensive books for something. Petra just finished building a unit with her group.
A bunch of us get into a sort of roller-coaster connected to a little airplane, piloted by Tim Z. We do some loops and swing about to get used to the feel, since we'll be doing a lot of travel by air. I'm in front, and Kristen is sitting behind me, grabbing onto my body with her arms and one of her legs. As we land she says she loves me and that I'm her best friend. I ask if I'm her best friend in perplexion, and she says not really, but I'm one of the people she still knows that she's known the longest.
posted by Phlegm at 11/24/2003
